Method and apparatus for recording the number of phenomena

ABSTRACT

A method and an apparatus for recording the number of phenomena, for instance of defects of a product continuously manufactured, wherein a graphic record is made on a recording tape in a direction transverse to the advancing direction of said recording tape and at a length corresponding to the sum of unit steps of which the number is equal to the number of phenomena occurring during a measuring or counting period.

O United States Patent 1191 1111 3,883,878 Bommer 1 May 13, 1975 [5METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR 2,231,537 2/1941 Keeler 346/33 F X T N BE2,746,834 5/1956 McLeanm. 346/139 R x HE UM R 0F 3,359,562 12/1967Staubli 346/49 X 3,413,541 11/1968 Swim et a1. 324/54 [76] Inventor:Paul Bommer, Zumbach Electronic-Automatic, CH-2552 Orpund, SwitzerlandPrimary Examiner.loseph W. Hartary [22] Filed: Apr. 6, 1973 [21] Appl.No.: 347,320 g [57] ABSTRACT [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Apr.10, 1972 Switzerland 5258/72 A method and an apparatus for recording thenumber of phenomena, for instance of defects of a product [52] US. Cl.346/1; 324/54; 346/33 F; Continuously manufactured, wherein a graphicrecord 346/50; 340/79; 340/139 R is made on a recording tape in adirection transverse [51] Int. Cl. 601d 9/30 to advancing direction ofSaid recording p and [58] Field of Search 346/33 F, 45, 49, 79, 101, ata length corresponding to the Sum of unit Steps of 346/139 R, 141, 50,1, 113; 324/54 which the number is equal to the number of phenomenaoccurring during a measuring or counting period. {56] References CitedUNITED STATES PATENTS 15 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures 1,952,991 3/1934Kolff 346/14 X ECEICJDUD 10 llllllllllllllllllllll|||1lllllllII-lllllllliilIllll 9 ME 151] MAY 1 31975 SHEET 2 OF 3 as aw asea ss1/ V11? 1 I as FIG.9

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR RECORDING THE NUMBER OF PHENOMENA BACKGROUND OFTHE INVENTION FIG. 3 is a section view of the recorder,

FIG. 4 shows parts of a zero setting device,

FIG. 5 shows parts of a stepping device,

FIG. 6 shows an element of a device for checking This invention relatesto a method and an apparatus 5 proper operation of the production plant,

for recording the number of phenomena occuring during succeedingrecording periods. onto a recording tape. The problem of detecting andrecording the number of particular phenomena has to be solved in manyapplications, for instance when checking or supervising a continuousproduction of various products. when counting traffic and in manyfurther cases of statistic evaluation of events and phenomena.

In prior apparatus for recording the number of phenomena the recordingtape or strip is continuously advanced and a similar mark is applied tothe tape for each phenomenon or whenever a predetermined number ofphenomena has been detected, such marks being applied one after theother in the advancing direction of the recording tape. It is aconsequence of this type of recording that with phenomena succeedingeach other at short intervals the recorded marks are applied to the tapeso closely to each other that the real number of marks can no longerbe'determined, or that the recording tape has to be advanced at a highspeed, this resulting in a very high paper consumption. In any case itis not easy to evaluate the record.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an object of this invention to obtain anappreciably clearer record which is also easier to read as compared withthe prior records mentioned above, and to substantially reduce the paperconsumption. The method according to this invention comprises the stepsof recording during each recording period a record in a directiontransverse to the advancing direction of said recording tape andresulting from the addition of a number of unit steps equal to saidnumber of phenomena occurring during said recording period, the totallength of said record in transverse direction corresponding to saidnumber of phenomena. In this way a very clear record is obtained becausethe height of each record in a direction transverse to the advancingdirection of the recording tape clearly shows the number of phenomena ina determined time interval between two stepping advances of the controltape, and the height of the records may be measured if desired. Theutilisation of the recording tape is very favourable, becauseinformations are plotted thereon in two directions.

The invention also relates to an apparatus for carrying out the abovemethod, this apparatus comprising a recording tape and driving means forthe same and means for producing a graphic record in a directiontransverse to the advancing direction of said recording tape and in unitsteps controlled each by the occurrance of a phenomenon.

This invention will now be explained in detail with reference to twoembodiments of the apparatus for recording the number of breakdownsthrough the insulation of enameled or varnished wires during manufacturethereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. I is a front view of a recorder ofthe one embodiment of the apparatus,

FIG. 2 is atop view onto the recorder with parts broken away,

FIGS. 7 and 8 are section views along lines V1 IVll and V1ll-V11lrespectively in FIG. 6,

FIG. 9 is a circuit diagram of the essential electrical equipment of theapparatus, and

FIGS. 10 to 12 show details ofa second embodiment of the apparatus.

As may be seen from FIGS. 1 to 3, the recorder of the apparatus has apaper roll 1 from which the paper tape or recording tape 2 is pulled offover a stepping roller 3. A stepping pawl 5 and a stop pawl 6 engage aratchet wheel 4 (FIG. 5) fixed at the one end of the shaft of roller 3.The stepping pawl 5 is mounted on a stepping lever 7 pivotably mountedon the shaft of roller 3 and adapted to be actuated by a cam disc 8against the pull of a spring 9. The driving means for cam disc 8 aredescribed later.

A row of recording pens 10 is disposed above roller 3, graphs or recordsbeing produced on a special pres sure sensitive paper 2 by pressure ofthe pens. The recording pens 10 are made of spring steel and form each aloop fixed to a beam 11. The end of each loop which is not writing gripsover the writing end and the downwardly bent end 12 engages the writingend of the loop and also a shoulder 13 of a cam disc 14 having a camsurface 15 continuously raising in axial direction outside shoulder 13.When the cam disc 14 rotates the end 12 and therewith also the writingend of the recording pen elastically applied against the cam surface 15is gradually shifted in axial direction.

Each cam disc 14 has a ratchet toothing at its circumference (FIG. 3),into which engages a stop pawl 16. A stepping spring 17 fixed to astriker spring 18 or made of one piece with the same engages from abovethe toothing of each cam disc 14. All striker springs 18 are fixed tothe beam 11. Their free displaceable ends are located above the writingend of a recording pen 10, these ends of the recording pens alsoextending over a lifting beam 19 running through below all pens.

An electromagnet 20 is associated with each striker spring 18 fortemporarily lifting the striker spring.

All cam disc 14 are mounted for free rotation on a common shaft 21. Thisshaft has pins 22 associated each with one of the cam disc 14 andserving for adjustment of the cam disc into an initial position in thatthe pins 22 of the shaft 21 executing an adjusting or resetting rotationengage cams 23 of the cam disc 14 whereby all cam disc are rotated intotheir initial position in their stepping direction. The toothing at thecircumference of the cam disc 14 has a gap the length of whichappreciably exceeds one advancing step or one tooth divisionrespectively, such that each cam disc cannot be stepped by its steppingpawl 17 by more than one full revolution.

Adjustment of the cam discs 14 by the shaft 21 is effected by means of agear illustrated in detail in FIG. 4. A toothed wheel 24 mating with atoothed wheel 25 is fixed on the shaft 21. The toothed wheel 25 ismounted for free rotation on the shaft 26 of a motor 27 but may bedriven through a friction coupling. A cam disc 28 is fixed on the motorshaft, this cam disc acting through a roller onto a spring-loaded lever29 pivotably mounted at 30 and acting through the lifting beam 19 onto amieroswitch 31. The lever 29 has a shoulder 32 cooperating with a pin 33of the toothed wheel 24. The lever 29 is interconnected with the liftingbeam 19 by means of a toggle lever 43, the lifting beam being maintainedin the illustrated rest position by a spring 44.

The cam disc 8 already described above is fixed at the opposite end ofshaft 21.

A rotatable test pulley is provided on a separate part of the apparatus,which may be located remote from the recorder, the enameled or varnishedwire to be tested being fed over the test pulley. A sleeve 35 isinserted into a stationary part 34 of insulating material, the testvoltage which may be in the order of 1000 V being applied to thissleeve. A plug pin 36 which is in electrically conducting connectionwith the sleeve 35, carries the inner race of a ball bearing 37, a cap38 and a mantle 39 of insulating material being connected to the outerrim of ball bearing 37. Parts 38 and 39 form a groove 40 between eachother, the outer race of the ball bearing 37 being freely accessible atthe bottom of this groove. Discs 41 and 42 having raised segments facingeach other as shown in FIG. 6 are inserted into parts 34 and 39. A cableor conductor is connected to disc 42. If the disc 41 rotates togetherwith the test pulley, the capacity between discs 41 and 42 varies due tothe raised segments thereof, whereby a pulsating signal is induced indisc 42.

FIG. 9 shows the circuit diagram wherein corresponding parts have thesame reference numerals in FIGS. 1 to 8. The wire 45 is indicated inFIG. 9. Except for the test pulley the apparatus has an odometer locatedin a suitable position and having a cam disc 47 acting onto a switch 48.As an example, this odometer is so designed that the switch 48 is closed10 times during passage of 100 meters of wire over a pulley or rollerdriving the odometer. The switch 48 acts on a pulse counter 49 on onehand and onto the input ofa NAND- gate 50 on the other hand. The outputof the counter 49 acts through a pulse former 51 onto a relay 52 afterreception of 10 pulses, this relay 52 having a making contact 53 in thecircuit of the motor 27. The microswitch 31 is connected in parallelwith the making contact 53.

The test pulley is energized from a high voltage source 56 through aprotecting resistor 57. The test pulley is connected to the input of anamplifier through a condenser 58 and Schmitttrigger 59, the output ofamplifier 60 acting onto the electromagnet 20. The disc 42 of the testpulley is connected to a limiting circuit 61 and through a condenser 62,an amplifier 63 and a rectifier 64 having a filter condenser 65, to aSchmitttrigger 66 of which the output is connected to the second inputof gate 50. The output of gate 50 acts onto the input of amplifier 60.

During operation each wire of a number of simultaneously produced wiresis fed over a test pulley 3740 and the switch 48 is closed by theodometer measuring the length of the wire passing through the teststation every time after passage of 10 meters of wire. Upon each passageof a defect of the insulation on the wire a breakdown occurs from thetest pulley onto the wire, whereby the voltage at the test pulley breaksdown. Through condenser 58 the Schmitttrigger 59 is reversed and a pulseis transmitted through amplifier 60 to the associated electromagnet 20.Thereby the associated striker spring 18 is lifted and the stepping pawl17 is shifted back by one tooth in the toothing of the associated camdisc 14. When the Schmitttrigger 59 is reset the magnet 20 isdeenergized and the striker spring 18 returns into its illustrated restposition. Thereby the stepping pawl 17 advances the associated cam disc14 by one tooth. By this steppwise advance or rotation of the camdiscits inclined cam surface 15 slightly displaces the end 12 andconsequently also the writing end 10 of the associated recording pen inaxial direction. When the striker spring 18 hits the writing end of therecording pen at the end of its downward movement, the latter will marka place on the recording tape which -is slightly displaced in axialdirection relatively to the original rest position of the recording pen.Each further breakdown on the same wire initiates the same effects, thatis, the more breakdowns occur on a particular wire the more therecording pen is shifted by the inclined cam surface 15 and the longerthe graph or record becomes which is marked in axial direction by theassociated recording pen on the recording tape. Of course the sameoperation occurs in all channels associated each with one particularwire, so that records associated with each wire are produced.

1f the counter 49 has received 10 pulses, that is, if meters of wirehave passed through, the relay 52 is energized. 1t energizes through itsmaking contact 53 the motor 27 during a period determined by the pulseformer 51, whereby the motor starts and drives the shaft 21 throughtoothed wheels 25 and 24 after the cam disc 28 has rotated lever 29 incounterclockwise direction and thus has removed its shoulder 32 out ofthe range of pin 33. The lever 29 turns the lifting beam 18 upwardly,that is, the front edge of the same is pivoted round the pivot 55 at therear edge (at the left in FIG. 3). This pivoting movement of the liftingbeam 19 causes closure of the mieroswitch 31 which maintains the motorcircuit closed when the relay 52 is d'eenergized. The recording pens 10are lifted by the lifting beam 19. The pins 22 of shaft 21 engage thecams 23 of the cam disc 14 whereby the cam discs are returned in theirstepping direction into their initial position. The cam disc 8 rotatestogether with shaft 21 and actuates the lever 7, the ratchet wheel 4 andtherewith the roller 3 and the recording tape 2 being advanced by onestep. After a full revolution of motor 27 the cam disc 28 releases thelever 29 into its illustrated rest position, whereby the mieroswitch 31is opened and the motor stops. The lever 29 returned to its restposition determines by its shoulder 32 the end position of the wheel 24and of the shaft 21. Further, the lever 29 returns the lifting beam 19and therewith the striker springs 18 and the recording pens 10 intotheir zero position and operating position respectively. Of course theabove operation for advancing the recording tape run off very quickly sothat recording of breakdowns now starts again practically withoutinterruption.

In this way rows of transverse lines or records are produced on therecording tape, as indicated in FIG. 1 and of which each is a measurefor the number of breakdowns and defects of insulation on the 100 metersof wire tested during the last counting period. As an example FIG. 1shows in its upper portion a row of lines of which each one has themaximum length. This length is determined by approximately 1 fullrevolution of the associated cam disc 14. 1f the cam disc has forinstance 50 teeth, the record means that that the tested wire hasproduced at least 50 breakdowns per 100 meters. After registration ofthe maximum number of 50 breakdowns the cam disc 14 stops in its endposition. because its toothing has a gap.

The lowermost row of lines is obtained if the varnish of the wiregradually becomes worse, wereafter a correction of the producing plantis effected. Thus, the number of breakdowns first increases and thendecreases.

The second and third record from the bottom in FIG. 1 correspond to thenormal case. that is. different limited numbers of breakdowns occur perrecording period and per unit length of wire respectively. such numbersbeing within the tolerable limit. During the operations described aboveall test pulleys driven by a wire running through the test station, andto which the test voltage is applied, produce a pulsating voltage at thedisc 42. This voltage is amplified and applied to the rectifier 64 suchthat a voltage continuously exists at the condenser 65 and at the inputof the Schmitttrigger 66 by which the Schmitttrigger 66 is maintained ina predetermined condition. With this condition gate is blocked, that is.the pulses originating from switch 48 are not transmitted to the inputof amplifier 60. Only the breakdowns are registered as described above.However, if no wire runs over one of the test pulleys or if no testvoltage is applied to this test pulley or if it is blocked and cannot bedriven by the wire, no pulsating voltage appears at the disc 42. TheSchmitttrigger 66 triggers into its other condition and opens the gate50. In this case no pulses due to breakdowns of the test voltage, butexactly 10 pulses from the switch 48 are transmitted to the amplifierand consequently to the associated electromagnet 20. Thereby similarrecords are produced for each recording period as shown by the fourthline from the top in FIG. I, but such records do not attain the fullhight. Such a record indicates that no wire is produced in theassociated place or that the wire is not correctly tested, and the faultmay be corrected.

In FIGS. 10 to 12, which show the essential parts of a second embodimentcorresponding parts are similarly designated as in FIGS. 1 to 9. In thiscase the recording tape 2 is pulled off the roll 1 and fed downwardly atthe inside of a plane viewing glass 70. The recording pen 10 of eachrecording unit acts upon the inner side spaced away from the viewingglass of the pressure-sensitive recording tape 2. It has been found thatalso with this arrangement a properly readable record is produced at thevisible front side of the recording tape. The striker spring 18 to whichthe stepping pawl 17 is connected acts onto the recording pen 10. Thestriker springs 18 with the stepping pawl 17 is actuated by the magnet20 as described.

The stop pawl 16 of each unit is fixed on a common transverse carrie 7I.The pawls l6 and 17 engage a straight ratchet toothing 72 of a slide 73of T-shapcd cross section having the shape of a wedge. As shown in FIGS.11 and 12 the springs 16 and 17 are wider than the toothed rib 74 of theslide 73. The slide 73 slides on a plate 75 and its rib 74 grips througha slit 76 of a leaf spring 77 of which the one end is fixed in a block78 and of which the other end is connected to a beam 79 common for allunits of the recorder. The beam 79 may be displaced from the illustratedrest position to the right in FIG. 10 by means of a schematicallyindicated elcctromagnet 80 or a corresponding actuating device. Theslide 73 is thus displaceably guided in longitudinal direction and itmay be shifted upwardly from its illustrated lower end position or resetposition determined by a stop pin 81.

The slide 73 has a wedge 82 against which the recording pin is appliedwith elastical pressure.

Operation of the apparatus shown in FIGS. 10 to 12 substantiallycorresponds to the operation of the apparatus according to FIGS. 19,with the difference that the transverse shifting of the recording pensis effected by the wedge surface 82. By each pulse reaching the magnet20 the striker spring is lifted as described. whereby the stepping pawl17 is set back by one tooth in the toothing of slide 73. When the magnetis deenergized later on, the striker spring 18 hits the recording pen l0and causes a mark on the recording tape. and the stepping pawl 17 shiftsthe slider 73 upwardly by one tooth division, whereby the recording penis displaced in a direction transverse to the advancing direction of therecording tape. At the end of each test period, for instance whenever apredetermined length of wire has passed through, the magnet 80 isenergized and pulls the beam 79 to the right. The spring 73 herebyengages the stepping pawl 17 and the stop pawl 16 and disengages bothfrom the toothing 72. The slide 73 thereby falls back into its restposition. simultaneously with the electromagnet 80 a not shown steppingdevice for the recording tape 2 is actuated. Recording for a furthertesting period may now begin.

As mentioned above, the described apparatus may be used for many similarsupervising problems. Many parts of the apparatus may be designed in adifferent manner. Instead ofa mechanical storage of the number ofphenomena per test period an electrical storage may take place, thiselectrical storage resulting in a corresponding electromechanical orclectrooptical record ing at the end of the test period.

The test period must not be determined by an amount of production, butthis period may correspond to a predetermined time interval, forinstance in the case of traffic counting. In either case it is notabsolutely necessary to stepwise advance the recording tape, becausewhen supervising production the recording tape might be continuouslyadvanced at a speed proportional to the speed of production and for astatistic supervision the recording tape might be advanced by atimepiece. In this case too, the number of phenomena would be recordedin a direction transverse to the advancing direction of the recordingtape, but the resulting lines or traces would not extend at a rightangle to the feeding direction as shown in FIG. 1 but somewhat inclined.

The indication of a fault, whether it be the absence ofa wire in aproduction line or failure in testing for instance due to cutting out ofvoltage, may be effected in a different way than by counting apredetermined limited number of phenomena, or this limited number ofphenomena may also be Zero. In order to enable a clear distinctionbetween a test result indicating zero faults and the indication zero"due to missing of a wire, recording may so be effected that in allnormal units a pulse is transmitted to the associated magnet 20 at theend or beginning of each test period. In the units associated with aproduction line without wire or without test voltage this pulse would beblocked by a gate corresponding to gate 50, such that a line of pointswould be recorded on the recording tape for each production line whichcorrectly operates and is correctly supervised and where in an idealstate no faults, for instance no breakdowns occur, while no recording atall would take place for production lines which do not correctlyoperate.

What is claimed 1. A method for recording of the number of phenomenaoccurring in different places during succeeding recording periods onto arecording tape. comprising the steps of producing an electric signal byeach phenomenon, transmitting signals produced in one place each to astepping relay, advancing said recording tape in its longitudinaldirection after each recording period. stepwise advancing a controlelement by each of said stepping relays in a plane parallel to theadvancing direction of said tape, shifting a recording element by eachof said control elements in a direction perpendicular to the advancingdirection of said tape, thereby recording during each recording periodrecords in a direction transverse to the advancing direction of saidrecording tape and resulting each from the addition of a 1 number ofunit steps equal to a number of phenomena occurring during saidrecording period in one of said places, the total length of each recordin transverse direction corresponding to said number of phenomenaoccurring in one of said places.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein said recording tape isadvanced step by step, stepping occurring at the end of each recordingperiod.

3. A method according to claim 1 for recording the number of phenomenaoccurring during sensing of a product passing through a producing plantat a producing speed, wherein said recording tape is advanced at a speeddepending on said producing speed.

4. An apparatus for recording a number of records indicating each anumber of phenomenons occurring in one of a number of places, comprisinga recording tape and driving means for advancing the same and means forproducing graphic records in a direction transverse to the advancingdirection of said recording tape and in unit steps controlled each bythe occurrance of a phenomenon, wherein said means for producing graphicrecords, comprises a row of stepping relays extending in a directiontransversely to the advancing direction of said tape, each relay beingadapted to be operated upon occurrance of a phenomenon, a row ofcontrol-elements extending in parallel to said row of relays, each ofsaid control elements being associated with one of said relays for beingsteppwise advanced by said relay, a row of recording elements extendingparllel to said row of control means on each of said control elementsfor controlling a recording element, relays and row of control elementsrespectively, each of said recording elements engaging said controlmeans on one of said control elements for being shifted in a directionperpendicular to the advancing direction of said recording tape, andcommon resetting means extending along said row of control elements forresetting said control elements at the end of each recording period.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said control elements arecam discs adapted to be advanced by one step at each phenomenon andhavingan inclined cam surface adapted to be advanced step by step, saidcam disc controlling said recording element.

6. An apparatus according to claim 5, wherein each of said cam discs hasa stepping toothing engaged by a nearly one revolution. 7. An apparatusaccording to claim 5, characterize in that the cam discs are rotatablymounted on a shaft:-

which is rotatable stepwise by one revolution in the stepping directionof the cam discs in order to reset the cam disc into a zero position.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, characterized inthat a steppingdevice for the recording tape is coupled with said shaft, such that thecam discs are reset while the recording tape is advanced.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, characterized in that a mechanismfor lifting the recording elements off the recording tape is coupledwith the driving device for said shaft such that said recording elementsare lifted off the recording tape while the latter is advanced.

10. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said control elements arewedges engaging each with its wedge surface one of said recordingelements.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, characterized in that each ofsaid wedges is guided for vertical displacement and is adapted to bestepped upwardly by one of said relays, and that as well a stepping pawlas a stop pawl for the wedges is disengageable by said resetting meansin order to let the wedge fall back into its initial position at the endof each recording period.

12. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized by a steppingmechanism for the recording tape, coupled with the mechanism fordisengaging all stepping pawls and stop pawls such that said wedges arereset while said tape is advanced.

13. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized in that each ofsaid wedges is a slide of T-shaped cross section having a toothed ribguided in a slit of a leaf spring, this leaf spring serving fordisengaging the stepping pawl and stop pawl laterally extending fromsaid rib of the slide.

14. An apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that apressuresensitive recording tape is advanced along the rear side of aplane viewing window and contacts the inner surface of the viewingwindow, and that the recording elements act onto the inner side of therecording tape spaced away from said viewing window, it being thuspossible to observe records being made by the recording elements withoutthe view being obstructed by the recording elements.

15. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said recording elementsare recording pens laterally applying each against one of said controlsurfaces, each recording pen being located below a striker spring havinga stepping pawl engaging a toothing of one of said control elements andbeing adapted to be actuated each by one of said relays. whereby eachcontrol element is stepped and the recording pen applying against it isurged against the recording tape at each operation of the striker springby impact of the striker spring against the recording pen.

1. A method for recording of the number of phenomena occurring indifferent places during succeeding recording periods onto a recordingtape, comprising the steps of producing an electric signal by eachphenomenon, transmitting signals produced in one place each to astepping relay, advancing said recording tape in its longitudinaldirection after each recording period, stepwise advancing a controlelement by each of said stepping relays in a plane parallel to theadvancing direction of said tape, shifting a recording element by eachof said control elements in a direction perpendicular to the advancingdirection of said tape, thereby recording during each recording periodrecords in a direction transverse to the advancing direction of saidrecording tape and resulting each from the addition of a number of unitsteps equal to a number of phenomena occurring during said recordingperiod in one of said places, the total length of each record intransverse direction corresponding to said number of phenomena occurringin one of said places.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein saidrecording tape is advanced step by step, stepping occurring at the endof each recording period.
 3. A method according to claim 1 for recordingthe number of phenomena occurring during sensing of a product passingthrough a producing plant at a producing speed, wherein said recordingtape is advanced at a speed depending on said producing speed.
 4. Anapparatus for recording a number of records indicating each a number ofphenomenons occurring in one of a number of places, comprising arecording tape and driving means for advancing the same and means forproducing graphic records in a direction transverse to the advancingdirection of said recording tape and in unit steps controlled each bythe occurrance of a phenomenon, wherein said means for producing graphicrecords, comprises a row of stepping relays extending in a directiontransversely to the advancing direction of saId tape, each relay beingadapted to be operated upon occurrance of a phenomenon, a row of controlelements extending in parallel to said row of relays, each of saidcontrol elements being associated with one of said relays for beingsteppwise advanced by said relay, a row of recording elements extendingparllel to said row of control means on each of said control elementsfor controlling a recording element, relays and row of control elementsrespectively, each of said recording elements engaging said controlmeans on one of said control elements for being shifted in a directionperpendicular to the advancing direction of said recording tape, andcommon resetting means extending along said row of control elements forresetting said control elements at the end of each recording period. 5.An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein said control elements are camdiscs adapted to be advanced by one step at each phenomenon and havingan inclined cam surface adapted to be advanced step by step, said camdisc controlling said recording element.
 6. An apparatus according toclaim 5, wherein each of said cam discs has a stepping toothing engagedby a stepping pawl of one of said relays and having a gap such that thecam disc may be stepped at most by nearly one revolution.
 7. Anapparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that the cam discs arerotatably mounted on a shaft which is rotatable stepwise by onerevolution in the stepping direction of the cam discs in order to resetthe cam disc into a zero position.
 8. An apparatus according to claim 7,characterized in that a stepping device for the recording tape iscoupled with said shaft, such that the cam discs are reset while therecording tape is advanced.
 9. An apparatus according to claim 8,characterized in that a mechanism for lifting the recording elements offthe recording tape is coupled with the driving device for said shaftsuch that said recording elements are lifted off the recording tapewhile the latter is advanced.
 10. An apparatus according to claim 4,wherein said control elements are wedges engaging each with its wedgesurface one of said recording elements.
 11. An apparatus according toclaim 10, characterized in that each of said wedges is guided forvertical displacement and is adapted to be stepped upwardly by one ofsaid relays, and that as well a stepping pawl as a stop pawl for thewedges is disengageable by said resetting means in order to let thewedge fall back into its initial position at the end of each recordingperiod.
 12. An apparatus according to claim 11, characterized by astepping mechanism for the recording tape, coupled with the mechanismfor disengaging all stepping pawls and stop pawls such that said wedgesare reset while said tape is advanced.
 13. An apparatus according toclaim 11, characterized in that each of said wedges is a slide ofT-shaped cross section having a toothed rib guided in a slit of a leafspring, this leaf spring serving for disengaging the stepping pawl andstop pawl laterally extending from said rib of the slide.
 14. Anapparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that apressuresensitive recording tape is advanced along the rear side of aplane viewing window and contacts the inner surface of the viewingwindow, and that the recording elements act onto the inner side of therecording tape spaced away from said viewing window, it being thuspossible to observe records being made by the recording elements withoutthe view being obstructed by the recording elements.
 15. An apparatusaccording to claim 4, wherein said recording elements are recording penslaterally applying each against one of said control surfaces, eachrecording pen being located below a striker spring having a steppingpawl engaging a toothing of one of said control elements and beingadapted to be actuated each by one of said relays, whereby each controlelement is stepped and the recording pen applying against it is urgedagainst the recording tape at each operation of the striker spring byimpact of the striker spring against the recording pen.